We’ve run many posts in the past about casting in the wind, and for good reason- it’s tough! Most of the time we’ve concentrated on how to cast directly into the wind, or when the wind is on your casting side. These are the most difficult wind directions to cast into and cause the most trouble for most anglers. However, casting directly down wind can cause issues as well! Sure, you can loft up a sloppy cast into the breeze and odds are the wind will take your fly for a ride. Nonetheless, like all things fly casting, there’s always room for improvement. Here are a few tips to increase your distance, accuracy, and control when casting down wind.

3 Fundamentals When Casting Down Wind

Widen Your Loops. Huh? But I thought you always want tight loops? More often than not, laser sharp loops are what we’re looking for when fly casting. However, when casting downwind, the strong wind from behind can cause the legs of a tight loop to crash into each other. Therefore, it is important to cast slightly wider loops than normal on the forward cast in order to maintain a consistent loop of line all the way to the fish.

Higher Trajectory. Stop the rod high to allow the fly line to straighten above the surface of the water. With the added energy of the wind working in your favor, casting at an angle directed toward the surface of the water will often cause the line to slap the water, or land in a heap when presenting the fly downwind. Adjust the trajectory of your cast to allow the line to straighten above the water before settling softly onto the surface.

Better Back Casts. For obvious reasons, most of us would agree we can reach greater distances when casting with the wind. However, a common problem we see when casting down wind are tailing loops on the forward cast. Although the wind might provide the extra power needed to throw a long line, if it tangles up in the process, it’s probably not a great ‘fishing cast’ anyhow. Most often, the cause for a tailing loop when casting downwind is a poor back cast. Therefore it is important to concentrate on throwing a nice loop that has enough energy for the fly line to straighten into the wind on the back cast. Without getting too ‘technical,’ this allows for less ‘slack’ in the system before starting the forward cast and will help to reduce tailing loops.

Casting a fly rod with the wind blowing the line into your body is probably the toughest casting situation you can face. Yes, when you’re new to casting in the wind it can be a challenge to cast directly upwind, but a tight loop, high line speed and the right casting plane can all make a cast straight upwind work fine. No matter how experienced you are though, it’s a pain in the butt to cast when the wind is blowing the line into your body.

Here are 5 tips to make that wind on your right shoulder a little less unpleasant. Note to lefties: every time you see the word ‘right’ in this post, substitute ‘left’. Sorry – it’s just easier to write and read this way!

5 Options to Deal With Wind on Your Right Shoulder

Cast sidearm. Using a sidearm stroke will keep the line further away from your body and your rod and the guide on the poling platform. Safety first.

Keep your line speed high. High line speed and nice steady tension throughout the casting stoke will also keep the line further away from you. The wind moves your line much more when it’s slack, so take out any pause in your casting stroke, especially on the back cast, and cast fast.

Try a back cast. If you face away from the direction that you want to present the fly and cast off your right shoulder, the wind is now on your left shoulder, blowing the line away from you – nice! Now you can make your normal casting stroke but drop the fly on your back cast. It can take some practice to be accurate, but folks who are really successful on the flats are good at presenting on their back cast. Here’s an example – the wind is coming from 3 o’clock and the fish is a 1 o’clock. You turn to face 7 o’clock, and make your normal casting stroke but drop the line at 1 o’clock on your back cast.

Shoot more line when you present the fly. If you’re using a normal forward cast presentation, having a long back cast with the wind on your right shoulder is really problematic – with 60 feet of line behind you, it’s tough it avoid it crashing into you when you come forward. Say you’re making a longer cast to a fish at 11 o’clock, 60 feet. Rather than making a 60 foot back cast, use lots of power in your casting stroke, make your last back cast about 40 feet, and try to shoot the remaining 20 when you deliver the fly. No, this isn’t the most accurate way to present in the wind, but it’s better than having a fly buried in the back of your head.

Butt on your right, tip on your left. For shorter shots to fish in the noon to 3 o’clock range, this is a great option that allows you to face the fish but keep the line blowing away from your body. Raise your rod so the grip is about eye-level and maybe a foot to the right of your head. Now angle your rod down to the left about 45 degrees. Voila – the tip of your rod is on the left side of your body, so your line is too. You can make a forward casting stroke right-handed without fear of impact. Unless you’re Tim Rajeff you’re not going to cast 90 feet like this, but for shorter shots it’s definitely an option worth practicing.

When fishing for bonefish, rarely can you expect a day entirely free of wind. In fact, most experienced flats anglers would agree that those completely calm days can be extremely challenging due to spooky fish. While a light wind can be your friend on the flats, there are times when it can be a little overwhelming.

Here are a few tips to increase your success when dealing with the dreaded “W” word.

Fish a heavier fly. For the most part, the majority of the flats we fish are relatively shallow. Therefore, we typically throw large flies with little weight, usually tied with bead chain eyes. However, when the wind is howling, the wave disturbance on the surface tends to cause the fly to sink slower. It is important to get that fly to the bottom quickly where the fish will see it in order to get the take. Therefore, on a windy day try chucking a fly with lead eyes instead. The larger splash from the heavier fly is not as much an issue here as it is masked by the wind’s disturbance on the surface of the water.

Shorten up your leader. Our bonefish on South Andros are hardly leader shy, and this is especially true on those blustery days. Some of our guides recommend a leader as short as 6 feet to aid in turning over the fly into the wind. In fact, one of our guides, Torrie Bevans, claims to have caught fish with nothing more than a few inches of leader off the end of the fly line. Sure, that’s a bit overkill, but the point is clear. If the wind is not allowing your fly to turn over, shorten the leader.

Tie your own leader. Along with leader length, try building your own leader. Building your own leaders allows the option of using stiffer materials, such as Rio’s Alloy Hard Saltwater Mono, which turn over much better in high wind situations. While knotless tapered leaders work great in some situations, the process required to make them typically results in a more supple material. This is not always the best option when trying to punch those lead eyes into the wind.

Up the rod/line size. While an 8 weight is by far the most popular rod for bonefish, don’t hesitate to pack along a 9 weight as well. The 9 weight is invaluable when the wind is howling. If the fly never makes it in front of the fish, it doesn’t matter how delicate your fly line lands on the water, so choose the stick that gets it there! Also, try over lining your rod. Try a 9 weight fly line on your 8 weight rod. The extra weight may help load the rod in those tough conditions.

Pay attention to boat speed. We’ve written on this topic before, but it is worth repeating. When retrieving your fly, it is important to take note at how fast you (and the boat) are moving. The speed that the boat is drifting has a direct effect on how fast or slow you must strip the fly. On days of high wind, this is especially important as the boat will most likely be moving faster or slower than normal (depending on which direction you are going).

Practice beforehand. Maximize your chances on your next trip by practicing beforehand. Practice throwing tight loops with limited false casts into the wind. However, don’t stop there. Remember, the wind doesn’t always blow straight at or behind us, so make sure to practice casting at every angle in relationship to the wind as well. Check out some of our past posts from a few that know a thing or two about casting into the wind.

This is the time of year that lots of fly anglers are getting ready for their winter bonefishing trips. Yes, you should be getting your calendar straight and your plane tickets booked, but now’s also the time to brush up on your skills. Pebble Beach is not the place to be working on your golf swing, right?

So today we present to you our 5 most popular posts focused on bonefishing tips!

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